Winter 2021
This issue contains subtle demarcations of time throughout its pages: A presidential election punctuates a conversation between Gabriel Sosa and Danielle Abrams; Jenna Crowder examines a revolution on its tenth anniversary; Erin Genia offers a timeline of colonialist decline; and several writers note the months in which they penned their stories to contextualize their text. Taken together, the following pages offer a glimpse back at how the uneven progression of time shaped our understanding of the world around us.
During the production cycle for this issue, our volunteer editorial board grew with the additions of editor-at-large Leah Triplett Harrington and editorial assistant Maya Rubio. At the same time, writer, poet, and educator Nakia Hill tackled curating a section of Issue 06 dedicated to celebrating Black creators. Homing in on our city, she presents Revel in Black Excellence, which composes nearly half of Issue 06, as a site for Boston-based Black writers and artists to take up space and share their voices. Though the personal essays, conversations, and critical perspectives in this section cover a range of subject matter, their messages exist in dialogue with one another. We as readers are simply invited to listen and learn.
Title
Author
Category
Letter from the Editor
Jameson Johnson
Letter
PRINT ONLY
Letter from the Editor
Nakia Hill
Letter
READ
To be a Painting: Cicely Carew on What is Bitter and What is Sweet
Mallory A. Ruymann
Conversation
PRINT ONLY
Words: What Are They Good For?
Gabriel Sosa and Danielle Abrams
Conversation
READ
Sonya Clark Pulls On the Threads of History
Olivia Kiers
Conversation
PRINT ONLY
Cristi Rinklin’s Recent Paintings Speak of Solitude, Anxiety, and Hope
Martina Tanga
Conversation
PRINT ONLY
Tiny Art for Uncertain Futures: A Conversation with Eben Haines of Shelter in Place Gallery
Jameson Johnson
Conversation
PRINT ONLY
Change With(out) a Revolution: Where Institutions Fail Us
Jenna Crowder
Critical Perspective
PRINT ONLY
How Cemeteries Are Being Transformed Into Sites for Public Art
Olivia Deng
Critical Perspective
PRINT ONLY
Dislodging the Cultural Infrastructure of Indigenous Peoples’ Dispossession
Erin Genia, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
Critical Perspective
PRINT ONLY
Observation and Imagination: The Art of Evelyn Rydz
Jacqueline Houton
Feature
PRINT ONLY
To the Thirteenth Floor: Thoughts on Plastics, Proximity, and Presence
Leah Triplett Harrington
Feature
PRINT ONLY
Stay Safe, Stay Home: Road Text in a Time of Contagion
Alex Lukas
Artist Project
PRINT ONLY
Blutopia
Shaka Dendy
Artist Project
PRINT ONLY
Kai Grant: A Champion of Roxbury
Margo Gabriel
Revel in Black Excellence
PRINT ONLY
Subversive Celebration: Photography of Black Joy and Healing in a Summer of Reckoning
Jonathan Rowe
Revel in Black Excellence
READ
Making Space for Gen Z: The Impact of Young Voices in Community Art Initiatives
Asiyah Herrera
Revel in Black Excellence
PRINT ONLY
Face to Face with Ayana Mack
Jacquinn Sinclair
Revel in Black Excellence
READ
Home Is a Place Called Bella
Christopher Streat
Revel in Black Excellence
PRINT ONLY
Embodying Art: The Black, Immigrant, and Queer Body on Display
slandie prinston
Revel in Black Excellence
PRINT ONLY
On Armor and Empowerment with Perla Mabel
Lex Weaver
Revel in Black Excellence
PRINT ONLY
Uprooting Truths and Painting them Boldly: In Conversation with Destiny Palmer
Elizabeth TiBlanc
Revel in Black Excellence
PRINT ONLY
Astro Returns to the Galaxies
Nakia Hill
Revel in Black Excellence
PRINT ONLY
Wayfinding Exhibition Expands the Critical Possibilities of Historic Maps as Artists Mine Archives at the Addison Gallery
Shana Dumont Garr
Review
PRINT ONLY
A Dance Between Past and Present: Chantal Zakari’s “A Work in Progress” at Kingston Gallery
Karolina Hac
Review
READ
Sensing Growth in the Cracks: Beatrice Modisett at Montserrat College of Art Galleries
Lydia Gordon
Review
READ